What Mountain Bike?

C3PO

maxamillius wrote: »

Where do you frequent usually C3PO?

My "go to" bike these days is a 29er Cotic Solaris with 120mm travel. I deliberately built it very light and managed to get it in at 11kgs. I almost never put the bike in the car and ride from home in Shankill to wherever I fancy - training for a marathon in October so doing regular 5 hour spins with 1500-2000mts climbing! The Cotic is perfect for a combination of not too technical trails, climbing and a fair bit of road mileage!

maxamillius

C3PO wrote: »

My "go to" bike these days is a 29er Cotic Solaris with 120mm travel. I deliberately built it very light and managed to get it in at 11kgs. I almost never put the bike in the car and ride from home in Shankill to wherever I fancy - training for a marathon in October so doing regular 5 hour spins with 1500-2000mts climbing! The Cotic is perfect for a combination of not too technical trails, climbing and a fair bit of road mileage!

I do like the look of the Solaris I must say. I'm spending most of my time on my BFE now. Like yourself I generally cycle to wherever I'm going, it's easy enough on the road and great on the trails! Spend a fair bit of time in ticknock!

Tenzor07

C3PO wrote: »

My "go to" bike these days is a 29er Cotic Solaris with 120mm travel. I deliberately built it very light and managed to get it in at 11kgs. I almost never put the bike in the car and ride from home in Shankill to wherever I fancy - training for a marathon in October so doing regular 5 hour spins with 1500-2000mts climbing! The Cotic is perfect for a combination of not too technical trails, climbing and a fair bit of road mileage!

Not great for those rocky steep slippy muddy trails though C3PO?

C3PO

Tenzor07 wrote: »

C3PO wrote: »

My "go to" bike these days is a 29er Cotic Solaris with 120mm travel. I deliberately built it very light and managed to get it in at 11kgs. I almost never put the bike in the car and ride from home in Shankill to wherever I fancy - training for a marathon in October so doing regular 5 hour spins with 1500-2000mts climbing! The Cotic is perfect for a combination of not too technical trails, climbing and a fair bit of road mileage!

Not great for those rocky steep slippy muddy trails though C3PO? [/quote

It's actually brilliant on technical climbs and any issues on the descents are more to do with "user error" than anything else!!

wanderer 22

Starting the hunt for a mountain bike...I've seen a few references to a Facebook page for buying and selling mountain bikes in Ireland, anyone got a link? Not sure if I need a Facebook page to view it?

iwillhtfu

Search buy & sell MTB Ireland. It's a closed group so you will need to have a facebook page and ask to join the group. It's worth the hassle though as some bargains do pop up.


Alternatively biking.ie are selling off the last of their old stock vitus sentier hardtails for €400 theyre a bit of a bargain at that. All size medium apparently

Mr. Grieves

colm18 wrote: »

Starting the hunt for a mountain bike...I've seen a few references to a Facebook page for buying and selling mountain bikes in Ireland, anyone got a link? Not sure if I need a Facebook page to view it?

It's a closed group, you'd need to be on Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/groups/490954040982138/

wanderer 22

Cheers lads. Will use the OH's account. Will take a look at the Vitus bikes too, thanks for that.

Cee-Jay-Cee

I have a Cube LTD Race 29er. It's a brilliant bike. I only have it 3 weeks but used it 3 or 4 times every week since, both on and off road. The 29er is ideal if your doing any sort of distance on the road, it's not a whole lot slower than a road bike but much more comfortable. Mine is 13.5kg (21" frame inc pedals and bottle cages) I don't think the weight makes much difference, gearing, wheels and tyres will determine how fast slow or easy it is to ride.

wanderer 22

Cheers - I'll be cycling to and from trails so will be on the road a fair bit alright. Only thing putting me off the 29er is the fact that I'm 5'9, opinion seems to be divided on whether the more vertically challenged such as myself should go for one.

nak

colm18 wrote: »

Cheers - I'll be cycling to and from trails so will be on the road a fair bit alright. Only thing putting me off the 29er is the fact that I'm 5'9, opinion seems to be divided on whether the more vertically challenged such as myself should go for one.

I'm 5'4 and get on fine with a 29er.

iwillhtfu

29er if you plan on a lot of climbing and open trails seem to be the way to go.

650b if you're planning on getting a bit more technical and throwing the bike around.

At least that's been my experience and on some trails I often wonder how lads manage with the bigger wheel through the tight stuff.

Cee-Jay-Cee

colm18 wrote: »

Cheers - I'll be cycling to and from trails so will be on the road a fair bit alright. Only thing putting me off the 29er is the fact that I'm 5'9, opinion seems to be divided on whether the more vertically challenged such as myself should go for one.

You are more than tall enough for a 29er. I'm 181cm (5'11.75") so less than 3" taller than you. I'm riding a 21" bike, - 17 or 19" bike (depending on your leg length) would be more than suitable st your height.

I do the odd spin with a friend of mine who has a 27.5" MTB and he constantly remarks that he has to pedal to keep up with me while I'm freewheeling especially on the road.

I have never intention of doing any technical stuff so the 29er is more than suitable for my needs and is a real flyer on gravel/fire roads.

wanderer 22

Cool - looks like 29 is the way to go so. Now the question is whether to wait for my bike to work to come up again in Jan or just go secondhand..decisions.

Tenzor07

The geometry on new 29ers is quite good these days so the old "29ers are no good on tight technical singletrack" doesn't apply anymore..

27.5" will soon only exist on Small or XSmall bikes soon enough i'd say

Cee-Jay-Cee

colm18 wrote: »

Cool - looks like 29 is the way to go so. Now the question is whether to wait for my bike to work to come up again in Jan or just go secondhand..decisions.

Similar position to what I was in a few weeks ago. BTW isn't due till January but wanted a MTB now for winter use so bought second hand. Got a terrific bargain, 2015 Cube LTD which had very little use (still on original tyres and very little sign of wear on chain rings) Bought it from MTB buy and sell Facebook page. Price new is roughly €1000 to €1100, I got it for €430. A bike with similar spec would have cost €1200 minimum in the New Year.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/632491330120036/

iwillhtfu

Tenzor07 wrote: »

The geometry on new 29ers is quite good these days so the old "29ers are no good on tight technical singletrack" doesn't apply anymore..

27.5" will soon only exist on Small or XSmall bikes soon enough i'd say

You've got to be kidding I think there was only a handful of riders if even that riding 29er at the EWS I'd have said the opposite and 29er is a dead duck

C3PO

iwillhtfu wrote: »

You've got to be kidding I think there was only a handful of riders if even that riding 29er at the EWS I'd have said the opposite and 29er is a dead duck

Strongly disagree with you! 29er's are still very much the bike of choice for any form of XC riding. And with regard to Enduro's, Greg Callaghan has been riding a 29er for most of this year in the World rounds but what would he know ....!
In my opinion, for most riders, in most situations, a 29er is a much easier bike to ride fast!

ec18

iwillhtfu wrote: »

You've got to be kidding I think there was only a handful of riders if even that riding 29er at the EWS I'd have said the opposite and 29er is a dead duck

C3PO wrote: »

Strongly disagree with you! 29er's are still very much the bike of choice for any form of XC riding. And with regard to Enduro's, Greg Callaghan has been riding a 29er for most of this year in the World rounds but what would he know ....!
In my opinion, for most riders, in most situations, a 29er is a much easier bike to ride fast!

It's really going to be a preference for people, aside from the pro's there looks to be a market for both atm among buyers. With trail/enduro being 27.5 and those looking to cover more distance or being a bit tall going 29.

May as well be talking clips vs flats all personal perference

iwillhtfu

ec18 wrote: »

It's really going to be a preference for people, aside from the pro's there looks to be a market for both atm among buyers. With trail/enduro being 27.5 and those looking to cover more distance or being a bit tall going 29.

May as well be talking clips vs flats all personal perference

We all know flat pedals win medals

rizzodun

iwillhtfu wrote: »

We all know flat pedals win medals

Unless it's XC!

kirk buttercup

ec18 wrote: »

It's really going to be a preference for people, aside from the pro's there looks to be a market for both atm among buyers. With trail/enduro being 27.5 and those looking to cover more distance or being a bit tall going 29.

Agreed. I have a 27.5 and love it but 29ers are cool too just not for me, in fairness I'm not that tall so it feels right for me. buy something that feels right and doesn't cost an absolute fortune, at the end of the day its not about the bike really I had loads of fun on my first MTB which was a cheap enough bike, bought a more expensive bike and Im loving it but didn't break the bank for it. Try Bike park Ireland brilliant day out and you can rent bikes there which may give you an idea.

magicbastarder

Cee-Jay-Cee wrote: »

I do the odd spin with a friend of mine who has a 27.5" MTB and he constantly remarks that he has to pedal to keep up with me while I'm freewheeling especially on the road.

i would love to have the physics of this explained to me - is there that much more rolling resistance with smaller wheels? or is there something else at play?
what made me think of this again was this video at 5:35 in - why the small wheels, if they're going for a land speed record, and smaller wheels are less efficient?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bpfHi4oFrk

Cee-Jay-Cee

magicbastarder wrote: »

i would love to have the physics of this explained to me - is there that much more rolling resistance with smaller wheels? or is there something else at play?
what made me think of this again was this video at 5:35 in - why the small wheels, if they're going for a land speed record, and smaller wheels are less efficient?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bpfHi4oFrk

I have no idea but I was out again tonight with him and he said it several times to me. He's actually a stronger cyclist than I am but finds he has to put more effort in to keep up. He was saying I was spinning away easily whereas he had to work to keep up while in a similar gear so much so that he's considering selling his 27.5 and buying a 29.

iwillhtfu

It could simply be down to different tyres/wheel/hubs there are a number of reasons. Swap bikes and see how his is different to yours.

If nothing else the difference in wheel size will inevitably mean he has to spin more than you would anyway to keep a similar speed.

Cee-Jay-Cee

iwillhtfu wrote: »

It could simply be down to different tyres/wheel/hubs there are a number of reasons. Swap bikes and see how his is different to yours.

If nothing else the difference in wheel size will inevitably mean he has to spin more than you would anyway to keep a similar speed.

Yeah I must do that just to see the difference and to let him see what a proper MTB feels like to ride :pac:

ec18

Cee-Jay-Cee wrote: »

Yeah I must do that just to see the difference and to let him see what a proper MTB feels like to ride :pac:

you have a 26" bike too :P

iwillhtfu

ec18 wrote: »

you have a 26" bike too :P

I was just about to say I thought you had a 29er

wanderer 22

iwillhtfu wrote: »

Alternatively biking.ie are selling off the last of their old stock vitus sentier hardtails for €400 theyre a bit of a bargain at that. All size medium apparently

Thanks for this, picking one up on Friday :cool:

iwillhtfu

colm18 wrote: »

Thanks for this, picking one up on Friday :cool:

Happy days. You;ll have some craic trying to keep her upright now

If you're interested in an off road sportive the Nire valley drop is on at the end of the month.

https://eventmaster.ie/event.php?event_id=918

https://www.facebook.com/nirevalleydrop/